Original Taiwanese mecha anime smashes crowdfunding goal

This awesome-looking original mecha anime from Taiwan is killing it on the Asian equivalent of Kickstarter.

Baryon (重甲機神BARYON), an original Taiwanese mecha anime, is currently seeking funding on Asian crowdfunding platform Flyingv. The project launched on January 8 with a goal 600,000 Taiwan New Dollars, or US$17,934. While it was originally conceived as a full 26-episode series, this campaign is only to get the first 22-minute episode made. If it’s successful, however, the campaign could well be the stepping stone to securing the necessary capital for a full series and further projects.

How’s it doing? As of the time of writing, it’s already exceeded its goal, standing at 129 percent funded with 47 days remaining in the campaign.

▼ Here’s the promotional video to whet your appetite.

And we can see why people have been so eager to throw their cash at the project. Being worked on by six-man studio One Punch Creative (乾坤一擊創意公司), the preview videos show high-quality animation consisting of a mixture of cell shading and 3DCG, as well as an intriguing premise featuring underwater scenes, an idol character, and a suitably angry protagonist.

▼ Epic music, explosions, and dodgy English translations; it’s got all the making of a mecha classic.

▼ Baryon already has some awesome promo art.

▼ The character designs also look pretty cool, and the mechs have an interesting rounded design.

▼ The underwater environments set a moody and mysterious tone.

With the project already fully funded it’s now time to see just how much cash it can rake in overall, and whether there will be any exciting stretch goals unlocked. We’ll be keeping an eye on the project and are looking forward to the finished first episode, as well as hoping for an English translation.